Sunflowers
by kazoquel4
Summary: Remus's job at the flower shop isn't exciting, but there is one perk: he gets to see him every week, the leather-jacket-wearing, motorcycle-riding customer who Remus has fallen head over heels for. If only he could just figure out his name... Wolfstar AU, Oneshot.


The sound of the bell drew Remus's eyes up from his book and to the door. Late afternoon sunlight streamed in as the customer closed the door behind them, and when Remus saw the light reflect off the sleeve of a familiar leather jacket his hand slipped, losing his place in the book.

"Shoot," he muttered, picking up his book again and frantically flipping through to find his page. He had been nearing the climax, and didn't want to be forced to reread anything when he was at the best part.

Someone cleared their throat, and with a jolt Remus remembered what had made him lose his grip in the first place. He looked up quickly and promptly lost his spot again.

"Oh," he said, blinking.

"Good book?" The customer was smirking, his thin lips drawn up in a smile that made his eyes crinkle. Remus should have felt mocked and annoyed, but instead he just felt self-conscious and nervous.

"Uh," he said. Ah, yes, there was Remus's famed articulation, the one he had been cultivating since birth, the one that had been complimented upon by numerous professors throughout his studies. He was glad to see that he could count on himself to be smooth in important situations.

The man flicked his dark hair, an impatient move to keep it out of his eyes. It hung nearly to his shoulders, but although Remus had historically complained that an unkempt head was the mark of an unkempt life, he couldn't deny that this man pulled it off sublimely.

"I need flowers that say, 'I'm sorry I'm late for dinner, but the weather was simply too perfect for motor biking to pass up'." The man leaned against the counter, his leather jacket half undone to reveal a black Led Zeppelin t-shirt. His dark hair was disheveled and wind-blown, and his eyes were still alight with the thrill of flight. Remus glanced past him through the window of the flower shop and saw a motorcycle parked in the space just outside.

"I'm afraid that's a bit specific," he said, his voice weak as he turned his gaze back on his customer.

The man frowned. "Come on, I thought you were supposed to be an expert in these things?"

Remus wanted to sink beneath the counter. He swallowed, dropping his gaze to the painted wood. "Tulips?"

"That's the ticket." He flashed a grin that made Remus's heart skip a beat. "Go on, then."

Remus whirled on his heel and hurried away as though scolded. He slipped behind the rainbow curtain that separated the back room from the main store and paused, taking a long, bracing breath.

He technically could have pulled some tulips from a very nice arrangement in the front of the store, but he didn't think he would have been able to work with the customer's eyes on him. The back room served as a sort of store room where they kept any flower overflow, and there were a few pockets of tulips that he could scrounge an assortment from. And in the meantime it gave him a moment to calm down and maybe think of something witty he could say when he was forced to return—as if that would ever happen.

Remus wove between the bright orange buckets of flowers, beautiful in their own right but deemed unworthy of front room status by small, insignificant blights—a spot here, a torn leaf there, or maybe just a stem that was a bit too short to fit in with the others. Remus felt sorry for the flowers stuck back here, which often went straight to the bin after the day was over. He didn't think it fair that they were condemned because of a few differences. He had happened to find some of his favorite flowers back here.

"Aha," he muttered, pushing aside a bunch of sunflowers. He bent down beside the tulips and started pulling some out of the bucket. He strained to recall a fuzzy image of the color wheel he had learned in primary school and made sure that none of the colors clashed. "Stupid motorcycle," he muttered to himself as he smoothed the petals. "Stupid hair, stupid shirt."

When he had arranged a dozen of them he spent a moment to make sure that all of their leaves were straight, and then ran his fingers over the petals to ensure that none of them were blemished, and then his hair to make sure that it was in order. He tugged on his mandatory white t-shirt and checked the knot on his pastel pink apron. He was just about to do a run-through of his trousers when an impatient voice called, "Almost done?"

Remus gave a sound that he would never admit to being a yelp and hurried toward the curtain. Drawing it back, he emerged into the shop with the tulips and hastened back to the counter. The customer was still standing there, his back pressed against the countertop, head tipped back, looking thoroughly bored.

"Sorry," Remus mumbled, picking up a piece of plastic sheeting and wrapping it around the stems to keep them together.

"No problem." His voice was lazy. "I just don't want to have to buy more flowers to make up for being even later."

Remus laughed weakly and pulled out a white sheet of tissue, then a yellow one. He wrapped them carefully around the plastic and then secured the whole ensemble with a piece of taffeta.

He looked up to find the man watching him and felt his ears burn. He probably looked like a complete dork.

"The yellow, uh, offsets the other colors," he said. Scratch that— _now_ he looked like a complete dork.

"Hey, I'm not complaining." The man pushed himself off of the counter and pulled his wallet, which was the same rich leather of his jacket, out of his back pocket. "How much?"

"Seven pounds. Please."

As the coins transferred hands their fingers brushed, and Remus's heart leapt into his throat. He pulled back as though he had been burned.

"Cheers, mate." The customer flashed a smile that momentarily blinded Remus and made him forget what he was doing. "Have a nice afternoon."

He grabbed the flowers and turned away. It took Remus a moment to realize that he was leaving, and when he did manage to cry, "Goodbye!" the door had shut behind him.

Remus watched through the glass as the man flipped his helmet on, leaving the straps dangling loose, kicked back the kickstand, and swung his leg over the bike. There was a tremendous roar as the engine started up, and then the bike was screaming out of the parking lot and the shop was quiet once more.

Remus remained staring at the door for another few seconds before he felt his entire body go lax. He slumped against the counter and dropped his head with a long sigh, trying to force his heartbeat to steady.

It was unfair that someone could do this to him and remain a complete stranger. It was unfair that someone could do this to him when Remus knew that he was _perfectly_ straight and that there was no chance even if Remus had been brave enough to actually speak to him for once. It was unfair that this happened every Sunday afternoon from 3-4 when the guy came in to buy flowers for his girlfriend.

It just wasn't fair.

He glanced disparagingly at the clock on the wall. It was 4:30—the guy really had been late (not that Remus had noticed, of course)—but there was still another thirty minutes until he closed up shop. Then he would retreat to his flat and wallow in his own misery and loneliness for the rest of the night. He would definitely not think about that stupid motorcycle.

A blast of classical music interrupted his spiraling thoughts. Remus jumped, picked up his cellphone from the counter, and pressed it to his ear.

"Remus!"

Remus smiled. The familiar voice helped to smooth out the last of his nerves.

"Hey, Lily," he said. "Do I need to remind you that I'm at work?"

"Oh, please, we both know that the shop is empty at this time of the day. He already came, didn't he?"

Remus's heart thumped. He rubbed at his chest, frowning. "Lily," he complained.

"Oh, stop it. Appease a poor soul, deprived of love in their own life. Did he have his bike again?"

Remus glanced out the window at the empty parking space and rested his elbows on the counter. "Yes," he muttered, remembering the way the sun had glinted off the spokes as the man had thrown his leg over it.

"Bloody brilliant!" Lily said. "Not the motorbike, of course, that thing is a death trap and he's probably going to crash it. But still—what an image! Did you talk to him?"

Remus hated the eagerness in her voice. He hated that it never died, week after week, and he hated that it was enough to keep _him_ hopeful week after week.

"Of course not," he said, "you know me."

"If by that you mean I know that you're incredibly charming when you just loosen up and actually _talk_ to people, then you would be correct," she said "For goodness sake's, Remus, if you just _introduced_ yourself—"

"I most certainly will not."

"But why _not_?"

"Because it's weird."

"It's not weird, humans introduce themselves all the time. It's kind of a survival tactic. How else would we reproduce?"

Remus groaned. "Lily, please."

"What?"

"He's straight, Lily." Remus felt embarrassed just saying it out loud. He put his head in his hand and rubbed his eyes.

"Oh, you don't know that."

"He comes in every Sunday and buys flowers for a woman. That he has dinner with."

"Maybe it's his mother. Or his grandmother! Peter has dinner with his parents every Saturday."

"He really doesn't seem the type, Lily. You haven't seen him."

"If you would just let me—"

"You are not coming to watch next week."

"Oh, _please_ , Remus?"

"No."

"I just want to—"

"No."

"But I won't—"

"No, Lily."

There was a long pause in which Remus was sure Lily was trying not to throw something. He could practically feel her frustration seeping through the phone, and it made him smirk.

"Fine," she finally said, her voice calmer than Remus had expected. "Alright, fine. But I'm pissed off about it."

"I've gathered."

"You're so fucking condescending sometimes, you know that? I don't know why I put up with you."

"I thought I was charming?"

"You're a weird mixture of both that's simultaneously infuriating and compelling.

"Why, Lily, I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

"Fuck off, Lupin. Want to grab dinner tonight?"

Remus thought longingly of his previous plan to go home and wallow for a few hours, but decided that probably wasn't the healthiest course of action.

"I'd love to," he said. "Can I ring Pete up as well?"

"Of course," Lily said. "God knows I could use a friendly face there."

"You know, on second thought, I think I'm just going to order in."

"Excellent. I want Thai, you know my usual. I'll be at your place in an hour. 'Ta!"

She hung up before Remus could get the last word in. He lowered the phone, rolling his eyes, and proceeded to scroll through his contacts for Peter's number.

"Stupid hair," he muttered as he pressed his friend's contact and raised the phone to his ear.

XXXXX

"I just think you're being an idiot. Don't you think he's being an idiot, Pete?"

Peter looked up from his pad thai, struggling to work his chopsticks well enough to pick up a stray noodle. "Huh?"

"Give it a rest, Lily," Remus said, poking at his fried rice.

"I don't think so, Lupin." Lily tossed her dark red hair back, glaring at him. "You talk about him every week—"

"Only because you _force_ it out of me—"

"But you refuse to say anything to him! Frankly, it's a bit pathetic."

"We've already established that I'm extremely pathetic," Remus said. "Shut up and eat your eggroll."

They ate for a moment in silence, gathered around Remus's shabby coffee table in his matching run-down living room. His flat was tiny, comprised of a shoebox sized kitchen, a teeny living room, one bedroom, and one bathroom. It wasn't the high life, but Remus thought it cozy. He had all of his books arranged alphabetically by author on their shelves, and his record collection was stacked high next to the couch. He didn't have a television, but he had never found himself lacking in that department.

Lily reached for the sweet and sour sauce, lips pursed. Nothing got her more riled up than Remus's failed love life.

"But you _never_ have crushes," she complained.

"Not true," Peter quipped, dangling a noodle in the air. "Remember that bloke from the coffee shop?"

"Oh, that wasn't a crush," Lily brushed off. "Not a Remus crush, anyways."

"What's a Remus crush?"

"I'm sitting right here, you know," Remus said, waving his fork in the air.

"You know, that once in a lifetime thing that he does," Lily went on, completely ignoring the topic at hand despite the glares he was shooting her. At this he rolled his eyes. "It happened with Joshua his first year at Uni, but never before and never since. Look, he's blushing just at the name!"

"Stop!"

"There you have it," Lily said. "This is one of those, isn't it?"

"Of course not! I don't even know the guy." Remus set down his takeout container amongst the assortment of others coating his table and leaned back into his sofa, crossing his arms. "It's all superficial, it's not-"

"Nothing's superficial with you," Peter said, and although Remus knew he was just trying to comfort him it didn't help.

"Would you guys just let it go?" he snapped. "It's nothing and it's going to remain nothing. End of story."

Lily and Peter glanced at each other, but Remus looked away, unable to bear their silent communication. He knew what they were saying: _our friend is so pathetic_. Instead he picked up a carton of noodles and determinedly started spearing them with his fork.

"Well," Lily said after a moment, "I have news."

"What is it?" Peter asked, jumping on the subject change.

"I met someone."

Both boys looked up at this, and Remus momentarily forgot his irritation. Lily, despite being hellbent on setting her friends up with their soulmates, rarely spoke about her own romantic situations.

"What?" Remus asked, sitting up straight. "Who?"

"Well- okay, I didn't _meet_ him," Lily said, flushing the same color as her hair. Remus raised his eyebrows. This was serious. "I've known him for a while, actually."

"Who?" Peter sat forward in his seat, almost bouncing in his excitement, and spilled a bit of sauce on Remus's chair. Remus winced but didn't say anything.

"That bloke from the office, the one I always—ah, I haven't been the most flattering about him." Lily's flush deepened. "But I think he's actually alright, really."

"Who?" Remus pressed.

"James."

"Potter?" Remus was unable to stop his mouth from falling open. "Are you serious?"

"Yes." Lily's tone took on a defensive note. She lifted her chin. "He asked me out and I said yes."

"He's been asking you out for months!" Peter said. "I thought you hated him? You're always complaining about how much of an idiot he is, and how he always messes up his paperwork—"

"Well, yes, he is an idiot and he does blunder his work once in a while," Lily said, "but he's also… I don't know, he's a bit of a cute idiot. It's just one date, mind you, we're not—we're not getting married or anything silly like that. I just thought it might be worth a shot, and I haven't dated anyone properly since Uni, and…" She trailed off, her eyes drifting to Remus's before darting away again. He quickly closed his mouth.

"I'm happy for you," he said. "I think it's wonderful you're giving James a chance. Who knows? Maybe he'll surprise you."

"We'll see about that," Lily said.

"Yes, congratulations, Lily!" Peter said.

Lily's face broke into a grin, part relief, part excitement. "Thanks, guys," she said. She brought her legs up to curl underneath her. She was wearing her dad's old university hoodie, which was about five sizes too big for her but of course made her look amazing anyways. Remus envied her sometimes. "I really hope he doesn't turn out to be a prick."

"I'm sure he won't," Remus said, "you have excellent judgment."

"I don't know about that," Lily said. She grinned and flicked a piece of rice at him. "I do have you for a friend, after all."

Remus laughed and flung a pea at her. Soon they were chucking tiny projectiles at each other over Peter's head. Peter just groaned, clutching his takeout container protectively to his chest, and said, "Oh, not _again,_ guys! I've still got barbecue sauce behind my ear from your last fight!"

XXXXX

Remus hummed to himself as he moved amongst the flower arrangements, fluffing up flowers that had lost a little bit of their spunk and making sure the most beautiful ones were front and center. It had been a slow Sunday—as most Sundays were—and he moved from roses to petunias to chrysanthemums trying to fill his time. He was already starting to psych himself up, because it was nearing three now and it wouldn't be long before his usual (and favorite) customer showed up. His stomach did a little twist at the thought and he busied himself over a bunch of daisies.

"Good afternoon!" The cry was accompanied by the sharp tinging of the bells. Remus stumbled and whirled around to see him standing there, framed by sunlight and grinning almost manically.

"You're early," Remus blurted out, then felt his eyes widen in horror as the man's smile grew.

"I certainly am," he said, walking in and letting the door swing shut behind him. As he moved out of the sunlight Remus turned away, disoriented by the sudden darkness of the shop in comparison. Had he literally just lit up his world? Remus wanted to throw himself off of a cliff. "I'm afraid the tulips weren't the ticket last week. I'm kind of in the dog house with the missus- I'm supposed to be early to help her out with a few things before dinner."

Remus kept his eyes away from the man, not wanting to think about what those 'things' could possibly be.

"So I'm going to need your A-game today." He clapped his hands together, drawing Remus's eyes back over to him. The man was appraising the shop with a trained eye, and Remus took advantage of his distraction to stare at him. Today, he focused on his straight, aristocratic nose. He had a good nose. Remus had never noticed how big of an effect a nose had on a person's face. "Something big. Something expensive. Something that will ensure that she actually feeds me when I go over."

Remus scurried over to him, struggling not to wring his hands. He could see his phone on the counter out of the corner of his eye, and wished more than anything that he could call Lily for advice on successful human interaction. He felt as though he had never held a conversation before in his life.

"What- what were you thinking?" he asked, forcing his tongue to unknot itself and form words.

The man shrugged. "I don't know, you're the expert."

"Roses?" Remus suggested. "They're romantic."

The man pulled a face that on anyone else would have looked horrendous. Of course, it just made Remus's knees weak "No, something else," he said. "Nothing lovey-dovey. Just apologetic."

"Oh," Remus said. He swung his eyes around the shop, hoping for a burst of inspiration. "Um."

"What are these things?" The man strode over to an assortment of bright white flowers, frowning at them.

"Daffodils," Remus said.

"Will they do?"

"They're not very… lavish," Remus said. "If you wanted to make a statement—"

"Hm, you're right." The man turned and walked right past Remus, his elbow brushing him. Remus drew away and hugged himself, biting his lip.

"What are these?"

"Sunflowers."

"Nah, too sunny. She'd complain." He crossed his arms and looked around again, a hint of frustration showing on his face.

"What about orchids?" Remus asked, desperate to make him smile again. The irony that he was trying to help his crush apologize to his girlfriend dawned on him but he quickly brushed it off. It _was_ his job, after all. And the keyword here was _girlfriend_

He turned to look at Remus, who swallowed with sudden nerves, digging his nails into his arms.

"What do those look like?" he asked, head cocking to the side like a puppy.

"They're, uh- here." Remus walked over to a small bucket full of them. They were on the ground near the back, half hidden behind some palm fronds. He pulled them out into the open and crouched down next to them. "They're beautiful, and relatively unique to this area so I'm certain it will catch her eye. Not to mention some species can live up to 100 years—I'm not certain about this one, but perhaps if she plants it right she can—"

He glanced up to see the man looking down at him, his arms hanging by his side, a curious expression on his face. Remus realized with horror that he must look extremely nerdy (not to mention boring) and swallowed the next piece of stupid flower information he had been about to babble.

"But I'm sure the daffodils would be lovely," he mumbled, moving to push the bucket away again.

"No, these are perfect!" There was a sudden movement and then the man was crouching next to Remus, so close that their knees pressed against each other. Remus was so shocked he didn't protest when the guy pulled the bucket out of his grasp and slid it back over.

"Any more cool flower facts?" the man asked, grinning at him through his bangs. Remus let his hand drop to the floor to balance himself. He had never been this close to the guy before, never been able to smell the strong, heady gasoline and leather on him. It made his brain go fuzzy.

"Um," Remus said, thinking through the scent. "The genus _Orchis_ comes from the Greek word for testicles."

There was a solid five seconds of silence in which the man stared at him in surprise and Remus burned with so much embarrassment he hoped he would just melt into the floor. He hadn't actually just _said_ that, had he? Oh, god, he had let that stupid smell get the best of him and now he was going to think he was a pervert.

Then the man let out a bark of laughter that made Remus jump. He caught himself on the floor to steady himself.

"That's brilliant!" the guy exclaimed. "Why?"

"They, uh- the bulbs- they, uh, kind of look like—" Remus stumbled over his words, his mouth filled with cotton.

"Oh my god, they kind of do, don't they?" The man bent forward and touched one of the flowers, his fingers gentler than Remus would have assumed they'd be. "Well, the Greeks certainly had a way of looking at the world, didn't they? I've always said that we can learn a lot from them. I just didn't know it extended this far."

Remus stared at the orchids, certain that if he looked at the elation on the man's face he'd give himself away for the pathetic creep he was. "Would you like me to wrap some up for you, sir?"

The man made a face. " _Please_ don't call me sir," he said. He stood up, brushing off his hands, and Remus hurriedly got to his feet as well. "Those will be perfect. Say, do you think I should get a vase? Do women like vases?"

"I'm certain I wouldn't know," Remus said, looking at his worn tennis shoes.

"Don't be silly, with a job like this? I'm sure you're absolutely swimming in women. They like the sensitive type, you know."

Remus's smile wavered as he turned away. "We have plenty of vases," he said, walking over to the shelves that housed the glassware. "What's your price range?"

"Uh… cheap?"

Remus glanced over his shoulder to find the man grinning at him, and before he could stop himself he was grinning back. As soon as he realized what he was doing he ducked his head.

"Here," he said, picking up a skinny vase from the bottom shelf. "This one's beautiful. You see the swirls here? They'll complement the orchids."

"Neat," the man said, taking the vase and weighing it in his hands. "How much?"

"Thirty-five pounds."

"Ah." The smile suddenly became a little strained. "Have you got anything a little—I don't know—freer? I know I said expensive earlier, but, uh—I'm not actually rolling in dough."

"Oh," Remus said. He bit his lower lip. What would Lily want him to do? No, scratch that—he knew what Lily would want him to do, and it was very graphic. "It's on the house."

The man blinked. "What? No."

"Yes." Remus took the vase back from him. "I'll get those wrapped up for you right away."

He walked back over to the bucket of orchids and started going through them, looking for the most beautiful ones. As he plucked three white ones out, he was finally joined by his customer, who had apparently been standing next to the vases for the last thirty seconds in surprise.

"No," he protested, watching Remus, "please, I was just joking about the whole free thing."

"I insist," Remus said. He straightened up again. "It's a discount."

"I highly doubt that handing away free vases is a discount."

"You're our best customer," Remus said. He moved over to the counter. "Well, you're our only usual one, at least. I hope this will help keep your business. Just recommend us to some friends of yours, and I think it's more than fair."

As Remus rang up the purchases on the register, the man continued to look at him. Remus kept his eyes fixed on the buttons. He could feel the gaze traveling over his face, which started to tingle with embarrassment. He didn't do well with close examination at the best of times.

"Well," the man finally said, "thanks, I guess. That's… sweet of you."

Remus's heart dropped. _Sweet_? Oh, god, he was going to go down as the sweet one. Disappointment swam in him. The sweet ones never got anywhere. "Ten pounds," he mumbled.

"I mean, this is _really_ good of you," the man continued, handing over a bill. "I didn't know people were still this nice around here."

Remus was sure his flush could have rivaled Lily's. He pulled a pink bow out from under the counter and tied it neatly around the neck of the vase. "Here," he said. "I'm sure this will get the apology across."

"I'm certain it will!" The man took it with a grin. "This might even get me dessert!"

Remus couldn't help but smile back. _Sweet._ Really?

"I'll definitely be seeing you next week," the man said, hefting the vase up. "Although I'm not sure how I'm supposed to show this up. Man, this is setting the bar pretty high, isn't it? I suppose it's a good thing I've got a secret flower expert at my disposal."

Remus's heart flipped. "Oh," is all he said.

"See you later! And thanks again!" The man waved over his shoulder as he walked away. Remus watched until he had disappeared, and then he let out a long, slow breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. A million emotions rolled around him, but he had only one thought on his mind.

His hands shook as he reached for his cell phone and picked it up. He was hardly able to dial the number.

"Hello?"

"Lily," he said, "you'll never believe what just happened."

XXXXXX

The man kept his promise and came back every Sunday. It wasn't as though anything had changed, necessarily, because he stuck to roughly the same schedule as before. There was something more permanent in it, however, something fixed that hadn't been there before. Now that they had both acknowledged that they noticed each other, they found themselves doing just that much more often.

Remus, for his part, refrained from commenting anymore about the likeness of some flowers to reproductive organs. In fact, he refrained from saying much at all, instead just smiling and keeping his eyes on his feet as the man—whom he discovered had quite the affinity for talking—chatted all throughout his purchases. One Sunday he gave Remus a run-through of every single part of his motorbike and even invited him out to look at it closer. Remus, of course, panicked and begged off on the flimsy excuse that he wasn't allowed to leave the shop during store hours, and then proceeded to regret his decision for the rest of the week. On another Sunday the man had given him a list of the top ten rock bands in British history, starting with the Sex Pistols. He had seemed to be personally affronted when Remus admitted that he had never listened to them, had written a starting song on Remus's hand in purple Sharpie—Anarchy in the UK—and had grinned up at him with a smile Remus was falling more and more for every time it was flashed at him.

"You'll love it," the man had assured him. Or at least, Remus thought that's what he had said. He had still been holding his hand at the time, so he didn't quite remember.

They had yet to exchange names despite their many (mostly one-sided) conversations. Several times Remus had opened his mouth, feeling the sentence on his lips: "My name is Remus, by the way. Can you introduce yourself so I can place a name to the face of my dreams?" But it never seemed like the right time to put forth a pronouncement like that, so he just smiled and nodded along as the man ranted about how much he hated vanilla ice cream.

It was driving Lily around the bend.

"Oh, my god!" she said as Remus caught her up to date on their latest conversation. It was Sunday evening, and they were sitting in Remus's living room with takeout while he regaled her with the latest story of his mystery customer, as was fast becoming the custom. "Just ask him out!"

"I can't," Remus said. "He has a girlfriend, Lily."

"That's not official."

"He comes in every Sunday and asks me what flowers he should get her."

"Has he said 'girlfriend'?"

"Well, no, but—don't look at me like that," Remus snapped. "It's self-explanatory."

"It most certainly is not."

"Look, I'm just going to be happy with our once a week conversations and leave it at that." Remus sighed and took a bite of his pizza. "What's going to happen when he stops coming?"

"You two will find a different flower shop," she said. When Remus looked at her with a questioning frown she continued, "You know, when you move in together somewhere new?"

Remus threw his crust at her.

Meanwhile, things were going well for Lily and her now serious boyfriend James Potter. Remus had yet to meet him, but Lily promised that would be coming soon.

"He's actually quite wonderful," she said over the phone to him after their third date. They had gone to the aquarium, and afterwards James had surprised her with a picnic laid out in the park next door. "I never would have expected it from him—you should have seen the way he used to act—but he's really cleaned himself up. He's quite the gentleman."

"You seem to really like him," Remus said, trying to repress the jealousy he was feeling. This was _Lily,_ after all, and he was happy for her, of course. At least her romantic interest didn't have a serious boyfriend on the side.

There was a small pause. "I do," Lily said, and Remus could hear the smile in her voice. "And I like his friends, too, which is always a good sign. His best mate helped him set up the picnic. James found him spying on us from the bushes; he said he wanted to finally see the girl James has been going on and on about. I wasn't sure at first, he looked a bit off—you know, leather jacket, ponytail, that sort of stuff—but he's actually very sweet."

"He sounds like trouble," Remus laughed. "Watch out for the protective friend, Lily."

"Oh, but I've got my own, Remus! You'll beat this guy up for me if you need to, right?"

"Clash of the best friends?"

"That sounds like an awful video game."

"I'll kick his arse, Lils."

"Stop it, Remus, you're flustering me."

When he hung up that night Remus curled up in his bed, fully aware of how quiet the room sounded with just his breathing.

XXXXX

"She might kill me." Remus's favorite customer appraised the sunflowers in his hands. "They'll clash terribly with the tablecloth—it's pink, you know, she says she likes to keep a classy table. Everyone thinks it's awful but we would never say it to her, of course."

"I think pink goes well with yellow," Remus said. "Besides, sunflowers go with everything."

"I suppose so," he said. He sighed. "The house is fairly overrun with flowers."

Remus's heart jumped. "Are you, uh, going to take a break from buying them, then?" he asked.

The man looked shocked. "Course not!" he said. "Nah, I think I'm going to buy more. Make sure we're swimming in them. Then she'll be begging me to stop, and I will be the best person in the whole world. Imagine, drowning someone with flowers. What a lovely way to go, huh?"

 _I'd let you drown me in flowers,_ Remus pictured himself saying. Then he would lean against the counter, smirk, and say, _Remus. Remus Lupin._ In his mind he looked just like James Bond, suit and all. "Hm," he said.

The man turned to go like he usually did, but something stilled him. He was still looking at the sunflowers.

"There's four," he noted.

"Did you—did you want some more?" Remus asked, trying to keep his eyes from roving over his customer's face. He fixed his eyes on his forehead, which he had already studied the week before. He had determined it to be the perfect size, and free from all blemishes. It was a nice forehead

"Oh, no," the man said. "But I was always taught that when decorating, you should stick to odd numbers. These are a little too auspicious to not follow that rule, don't you think?"

"I… suppose?"

"Yes." He looked at the sunflowers one more time and then pulled one out of the arrangement, the plastic crinkling. He held it out to Remus with a smile. "For you," he said, inclining his head in a mock bow.

Remus stared at it, certain that this was some joke he wasn't picking up on. Or was this a dream? He hadn't fallen asleep in the middle of the day again, had he? "Huh?"

"Go on." The man shook the flower a bit. "Consider it a tip. I don't tip you well enough. And then I'll have three, and you'll have a pretty flower."

"I work in a flower shop," Remus said, still staring at the proffered plant. Maybe he was just trying to return the flower and was attaching the joke to it?

The man rolled his eyes. "Yes, but this one has sentiment. Go on, take it. Consider it a thank you for all the times you've saved my arse."

"You pay me for that," Remus said, but he still reached out and took the flower before hiding his hands behind the counter so it wasn't obvious that they were shaking. He ran his thumb over the rough stem, his mind struggling to comprehend what had just happened.

"I have a feeling you don't get paid well enough to deal with me," the man said. He grinned, meeting Remus's eyes, and for a moment they stood there, staring at each other over the counter. Remus, who hadn't gotten the chance to really study his eyes before, drank it all in. They were big and solid grey. He had been debating about their color for a while, but as he looked him head on he decided that they really were flat grey, no flecks of brown or blue to be seen. They looked like the London fog rolling in over the city, and for some reason Remus felt like crying. It wasn't fair that he was so perfect and so unavailable.

"Well," the man said after a couple of seconds, "I should get going. Got to get these over before they die on me."

"Right," Remus said, still fixated on the color of his eyes. "Right."

"See you next week."

"Right," Remus repeated as the door shut with a tinkle.

He stood there, staring as the motorcycle roared off. Then he looked down at the flower still clutched in his hands. He held it up to his eyes and turned it left and then right, marveling at it, feeling a spectacular warmth spread from his chest to his toes.

He was really screwed.

The sound of classical music interrupted him. Refusing to let go of the flower, he picked the phone up with one hand and answered it, a broad smile spreading across his face. "Hello?"

"Remus! Who's my favorite person in all of England? All of Europe? The whole world, in fact?"

"What do you want, Lily?"

"You certainly don't beat around the bush, do you?" The pleading dropped from her voice. "Care to join me for dinner tomorrow night? My flat?"

"Why?" Remus asked, clutching the flower close to his chest.

"Because I invited James over and said he could bring his best friend. You know, bush guy? And I need someone there with me for backup and also so I don't look like a total loser because he's never actually met any of my friends and he's probably starting to think that I don't have any—"

"You're babbling, Lily."

"—and so I thought, who better to invite than my bestest friend in the whole world, Remus John Lupin?"

"I really don't think that inviting me will make you look like anything other than a loser."

"Are you kidding? You are the height of cool."

"Lily, I don't like strangers."

"I know you don't, but I already asked Margie and Peter and no one can make it, Remus. Please?"

"Oh, so I'm your last resort?"

"I know you don't like this stuff so I didn't want to ask you, but I'm desperate. I need you there so it's not horrendously awkward with just us and the other bloke. Please? I'll make spaghetti! It's your favorite, and also the only thing I can make."

"I don't know," Remus said, giving the sunflower a sniff. "I had plans for tomorrow night."

"What, listening to Mozart in the bath?"

"I'm into the Sex Pistols now, actually."

"You're _what_? No, you know what, never mind. Look, just tell me that you can make it, will you? I'll buy Sunday takeout for the next two weeks."

"Three. And we're getting Indian next week."

Lily groaned, and Remus smirked into the sunflower. "Fine! Three weeks," she said.

"And Indian."

"And the bloody Indian. Look, they'll be arriving at six, so if you could get here around, say, four, to help me clean up a bit and cook I would be so so—"

"Lily, relax. Of course I'll be there, and of course I'll help you."

"You will? Oh, thank you, thank you, Remus! I love you so much. I owe you one."

"You owe me Indian."

"I'll order the garlic Naan bread."

"You really know the way to a man's heart, don't you, Lily?"

"See you later, love."

Remus put the phone down and looked back down to the sunflower. He twirled it, watching the petals spin around, and smiled. If he just managed to stay this happy until tomorrow, he could get through dinner with a couple of strangers.

XXXXX

"The garlic bread is in the oven," Lily said, pointing to it. Her hair, which she had done up in an elaborate bun, was already coming undone, but Remus didn't bother telling her because the strands hanging into her face looked elegant and purposeful. She was dressed in a simple black dress and had even donned a bit of lipstick for the occasion. "The spaghetti is in that pot thingy there, the sauce is—"

"The sauce is my domain," Remus said, "and it's time for you to leave the kitchen. Go set the table."

"But everything has to be perfect!" Lily protested as Remus took her arm and guided her out of her apartment's tiny kitchen.

"Everything will be perfect if you don't go near the food," Remus said. "Remember last Christmas?"

"Low blow, Lupin."

"I'm pretty sure I can still see a bit of turkey on your ceiling up there."

"Fair enough. Do you remember where I keep the fancy napkins?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "The cupboard by the bathroom, underneath the guest towels."

"That's right! Thanks, love." She darted off down the hall. Remus shook his head and returned to the kitchen.

It was almost six, and Lily had been fluttering around more and more as the clock had ticked ever closer. Remus had taken charge of almost everything, worried that her nerves would result in a catastrophe. She wasn't great at hosting at the best of times, and in such a precarious emotional state letting her chop the salad could mean the difference between a trip to the hospital or not. She was a fantastic party host when it came to the actual entertainment part, but she had a tendency to drop things and explode food when she got nervous.

Remus, who was wearing one of his comfiest brown sweaters and who felt severely underdressed when stood next to Lily's splendor, snatched the apron Lily had long since abandoned from off the counter and pulled it over his head. Remus had gotten it for her a few birthdays ago; it was the classic _Kiss the Cook_ apron, and it was also the only thing he had bought Lily on his trip to Italy. Lily had thrown it at him when she had opened it.

Remus picked up the ladle and stirred the sauce, peeking down into it. It smelled amazing, and he breathed a sigh of relief as he looked over the rest of the food and made sure that everything was still going as planned. To fail would be to be beheaded by Lily, which he wasn't too keen on doing. Besides, he felt his own flutter of nerves every now and then. Lily and James had been dating for a month now, and despite the short amount of time they had gotten alarmingly serious. Remus needed to check this guy out before it went any further.

"Fancy napkins are a go!" Lily shouted from the dining room. "Didn't you learn how to fold them into swans off of Youtube?"

"You need to take at least three chill pills, Lily."

"You're right, I'll just set them next to the plates. Check the bread!"

Remus rolled his eyes but moved over to the oven anyways. At that moment a sharp rap on the door made him look up and peer into the living room, but he couldn't see the door from here.

"That's them!" Lily said. Remus heard the sound of silverware clattering together, a murmured "Damn," and then Lily shouting, "Coming! Remus, would you—"

"I'll fix whatever you just messed up before they see it."

"You're a lifesaver! Okay, I'm getting the door."

Remus pulled open the oven and peeked in at the garlic bread, listening closely to the sound of the door opening. He heard Lily greet the guests, and then a deep, male voice laughing. Remus shut the oven door and wiped his hands on the apron, bursting with curiosity to go and look at James, but remembered his promise and crept carefully into the adjoining dining room. It was a small room taken up completely by Lily's table, which was currently set with four placemats. The salad Remus had made was already on the table, along with a few bottles of wine. One of the places had been upset, the silverware and placemat all crooked. Remus continued to listen in on the conversation going on in the other room as he fixed it.

"Remus is in the kitchen," Lily was saying, "I can't wait for you to meet him, he's amazing. Oh, Sirius, you can put your coat right here, it's much too hot for all that leather—don't you own anything else?"

"Remus?"

Remus looked up from the placemat to see a man poking his head in through the doorway. He had an easy smile, messy black hair, and circular glasses that took up most of his face. He came forward and extended his hand. "I'm James," he said. "Lily's told me so much about you."

"Likewise," Remus said, taking his hand and smiling back. He was getting immediate good vibes from James, much to his relief. "Apparently you're quite the gentleman. The picnic was a very nice touch, she really enjoyed it."

James's face lit up even more. Remus hadn't known it was possible to have a smile that wide and genuine. "Did she? Oh, good. Don't tell her, but that was mostly my mate Sirius's idea."

"He knows women well."

James laughed as though Remus had said something funny. "Right," he said. "Lily's helping him shed his gear. He normally doesn't get off his motorcycle, like, ever, and he insists on wearing his jacket everywhere. It's a bit of a hassle for everyone else."

Remus frowned. "Motorcycle?"

"Don't worry, Lily's already given him the whole deathtrap spiel. And my mum gives it to him at least once a week. Just don't ask him about it or you won't be able to shake him off you, alright?"

"Alright," Remus said, liking James more and more.

"Beautiful place, Lils!" called another voice from the living room. "Is that spaghetti I smell? Prongs, propose to this woman!"

James laughed and turned back to go into the living room. Remus followed after him, wiping his hands on the apron and looking over his shoulder to make sure everything was perfect in the dining room. If Lily found something out of place Remus's head would be on the chopping block.

The other man's laughter died as James and Remus stepped into the room, and a second later he exclaimed "You!" so loudly Remus jumped and whirled back around—only to find a familiar face gaping at him from across the room.

His heart stopped dead for several beats. He stared at the man, his mind wiped blank, forgetting how to breathe because _what the actual fuck was going on?_

"You know Remus?" James asked, looking back and forth between the two of them.

Remus was aware that Lily was frowning at him, but he couldn't tear his eyes off of the man's face. He looked exactly the same—pointed features, long dark hair, and eyes that Remus had decided just yesterday were definitely grey.

"Yeah," he was saying, still staring at Remus with an incredulous expression, "he works at that flower shop I go to."

"Holy fuck!" Lily exclaimed. Remus tore his eyes off the man to find a look of comprehension on her face as she stared from Remus to the man, her mouth hanging open. Remus wanted to tackle her so she would stop gaping. " _That's—"_

"Holy shit!" James exclaimed. Remus turned to him to see the same comprehension on his face as well, only this time its existence didn't make much sense to Remus. He was staring at Remus, eyebrows raised. " _You're_ —"

The man made a tsking noise, glaring at James. A beeping noise finally broke through Remus's thoughts—or lack thereof—as an acrid smell filled the room.

"Remus!" Lily shouted, "The bread!"

"Shit," Remus said. Grateful for the escape, he turned on his heel and ran back into the kitchen, diving for the oven and yanking it open. Smoke spilled out of it; he coughed and batted his hand in front of his face in an attempt to breathe as he fumbled on the counter for an oven mitt and pulled it on. He braved the plunge into the oven and emerged with the pan of charred garlic bread.

He was aware of someone else at his side choking and waving their hands to try and get rid of the smoke. In the living room he heard James yell, "Sirius, open the door!"

The oven door slammed shut as Remus set the pan on the counter, and then Lily was grabbing his arm in a grip so tight he winced and leaning in to hiss in his ear, "That's the fucking flower shop guy?"

"Yes," Remus whispered.

"Holy shit," Lily said. Remus saw her through the smoke brushing her hair out of her eyes and shaking her head. "This is insane."

"I need to go home."

"You will do no such thing!"

"Lily?"

James and the guy—his name wasn't actually Sirius, was it?—were standing in the doorway, waving smoke out of their faces and trying to see in. Remus turned away, busying himself with poking at the burnt lumps of bread while Lily said, "It's alright, the bread just burned."

"Shit," Remus said again, unable to comprehend anything except swear words at that moment. They were the only thing that accurately expressed his emotions. "I'm so sorry Lily."

"It's not your fault, Rem. The spaghetti?"

"Shit!" Remus lunged for the stove and turned it off, peeking in at the noodles swimming in the water. They looked okay, remarkably.

"No fires, then?" Sirius asked. Remus's heart skipped a beat. He kept his back turned to him and James, concentrating on the spaghetti.

"No, just some very burned bread," Lily said. "I'm so sorry."

"Not at all, Lily. I'm sure they're still edible. Even if they aren't, Sirius will eat it anyways."

"Ha, ha." Sirius didn't sound amused.

Taking a deep breath, Remus set down the spoon he was holding and turned around, searching for Sirius. He found him instantaneously, standing in the doorway next to James and staring at Remus, who felt himself flushing. He was suddenly aware of every inch of his appearance, from the ratty sweater to his messy hair to his _Kiss the Cook_ apron. Why had he _ever_ gone to Italy?

"I don't think we've ever been formally introduced," Sirius said. He walked forward, hand held out to Remus, a curious expression on his face. "I'm Sirius Black."

"Like the star," Remus blurted.

Sirius's face broke into a smile and Remus felt familiar butterflies take flight in his stomach. "Brightest star in the sky," he said, and Remus realized with a jolt that he still had his hand held out. He hurried to take it, gripping it a little too tightly in his haste. He knew that his palms were sweating, but once he had hold of Sirius's hand he couldn't bring himself to let go.

"Remus Lupin," Remus managed to say.

Sirius's smile seemed to grow. "Remus," he said, and Remus thought his name had never sounded so musical. "Like from Rome."

"Please don't ask me if I have a brother named Romulus, because I don't."

Sirius laughed, squeezing Remus's hand. "I take it you get that a lot?"

"More than is acceptable."

They both looked up when James cleared his throat. He and Lily were standing there, arms crossed and eyebrows raised, and Remus released Sirius's hand as though he had been shocked.

"Spaghetti," Remus said. He cleared his throat. "I need to finish making the spaghetti."

"I'll get you two a drink," Lily said, taking James by the elbow and leading him into the dining room. Sirius glanced at Remus once more before following them out. "Do you like red wine?"

Remus turned back to the various pots simmering on the stove and took several deep breaths. His head was pounding and he felt almost drunk. He certainly wouldn't need to drink tonight.

As he dumped the ruined bread in the rubbish bin, he was rejoined by Lily, who converged on him with wide eyes and a glass of wine. "What was that?" she demanded.

"That was my entire life falling apart," Remus said, proud of himself for how well he was holding things together. "I think I'm going to pass out."

"Here." She pressed the wine glass into his hand, and despite his earlier thought Remus took a deep swig of it. Then she hissed, "That was _flirting,_ Remus Lupin!" and Remus choked on it.

"What?" he spluttered.

Lily twisted up her face and said in a high voice, "Please don't ask me if I have a brother named Romulus!"

"Oh, god, I don't sound like that, do I?"

Lily smacked his arm and Remus almost spilled his wine. "Listen to me you idiot!" she snapped. "Do you know what this is? This is—"

"Don't say it—"

"Fate!"

Remus groaned and tried to turn away but Lily held on tight to the sleeve of his sweater. "Don't make that face at me," she warned, "not even you can say the universe _isn't_ rooting for this!"

"The universe isn't rooting for anything, and if it is, it certainly isn't rooting for me."

"But what are the odds, Remus? This is your chance!"

"My chance to make an even bigger fool of myself than I usually do and lose the one good thing about my week."

"Or the chance to turn that into your one good thing about your _day_! You know, like when you move in together and see each other every day?"

"Shh!" Remus glanced into the living room. He could hear James and Sirius talking together in low voices. "I'm trying _not_ to freak him out!"

"You've handled everything beautifully so far." When Remus snorted, she said, "What? It's true! Plus, you look absolutely adorable. The apron is a nice touch."

Remus looked down, having already forgotten about his outfit. "Oh, for god's—" he struggled out of it, pulling it over his head and dropping it onto the counter. He sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "I'm sorry, Lily. This is supposed to be your night and now it's turned into a complete mess."

Lily laughed. "Are you kidding me? This is the best thing that's ever happened to me! I've already got James, and now you can get your man!"

"Will you keep your voice down? If you haven't forgotten, he has a girlfriend."

"Tonight's your night to find out, isn't it?"

"No," Remus said, a new horror dawning on him. He grabbed Lily's arm and leaned down to look her straight in the eye. "No, Lily. I absolutely forbid you from asking him about his love life. I forbid you from insinuating anything about his sexual preference or him and me or anything. I forbid you from trying to get us to have a conversation together. I forbid you from—"

"Fine, fine!" Lily shook him off with a frown. "Sourpuss."

"Please, Lily."

"Alright. Remus." Lily grabbed Remus's hand, looking up at him with a worried gaze. "Do you need to go home? I can make an excuse for you, I know this is really hard for you. It's really not a big deal."

"No. No, Lily, I'll stick it out." Remus tried to smile at her. "Besides, there is no way you'll be able to assemble dessert on your own."

Lily smiled and leaned up to peck Remus on the cheek. "Finish that wine before you join us," she advised, turning and walking back into the dining room.

Remus lifted the glass and drained it in two gulps. Then he took a moment to tug on his sweater, regret everything about his appearance, and attempt to fix his hair before squaring his shoulders, taking a deep breath, and following Lily into the dining room.

XXXXX

Five minutes later Remus and Lily had plated the spaghetti and the four of them were seated around the table. Remus, of course, was seated directly across from Sirius, and as thus had to take even more care to make sure his gaze rested anywhere but on him. He spent the first half of dinner staring down at his plate and twirling spaghetti around on his fork without eating it. He had completely lost his appetite.

"So, Remus," James said when they were all seated, "you're Sirius's flower supplier? I was beginning to wonder who was hooking him up with all those bouquets every week."

"Yeah," Remus said, fascinated by a particularly long noodle. "Small world."

"It really is," said Lily. "To think our best friends know each other."

"It's fate," James agreed.

"Funny, that's what I said." Remus looked up to find Lily glaring at him from his right, swirling a wineglass menacingly. He knew that he was being reprimanded into a conversation, and forced his eyes up from his plate.

"So you work with Lily at the office?" he asked James, painfully aware of Sirius taking a bite of his food.

"Yup!" James beamed at him. "I work in Management. Always saw her from across the office but could never work up the courage to talk to her."

Lily laughed, and Remus watched as James's eyes shot over to her immediately, a gooey look passing over his face. Remus was relieved as he watched the two interact. It was obvious James was smitten, which was the only state of mind Remus would accept for any of Lily's boyfriends.

"Please," Lily said, "you were annoying from day one."

James screwed his face up into a pout. "Hey, I had a crush!"

"And you let everyone in the office know."

"Well, you wouldn't let me shout it from the rooftops. I had to tell someone!"

"Your diary wasn't enough?"

Sirius laughed. Remus dropped his eyes to his salad, unable to watch him in any state of happiness without wanting to crawl under the table. Actually, he couldn't look at Sirius at all without wanting to make a run for it. When had the evening gone so horribly wrong?

"Oh, he certainly poured a lot into that diary," Sirius said. "I stole it and read it. _Dear diary, Lily's hair is so red and pretty and today she yelled at me for—_ hey!" Remus chanced a look up to see Sirius duck from a flying piece of lettuce. He flicked his hair out of his face as he emerged and grinned at Lily. "I promise that's verbatim."

"Shut _up_ , Sirius!" James snapped.

"Aw, I think it's cute," Lily said, grinning at James.

James blinked at her, then that same doughy expression crossed his face. "You do?" he asked, leaning forward and smiling at her.

Sirius met Remus's eyes across the table and pulled a face. Remus stifled a laugh into his hand, looking away again.

"Remus," Sirius said just as Remus looked away, and Remus forced himself to drag his eyes back over to him. "Is flower salesman it for your career goals, or do you want to go on to be flower overlord?"

"Flower what?"

"Sirius makes stupid jokes, just throw stuff at him and he'll stop," James said, dodging the crouton Sirius threw at him.

"Oh," Remus said, flushing. "No, I—well, I like selling flowers, but eventually, I, um—"

"Remus wants to be a teacher," Lily interrupted, taking a sip of her wine.

Sirius's face lit up, and Remus noted how apt his name was. He really was the brightest star in the sky. "Really?"

"Yeah," Remus mumbled.

"What level?" James asked.

"Well," Remus said, "I really like kids—like, primary school—but I think it would be much more challenging to be a university professor."

"That's smart," Sirius said, nodding. "Avoid those middle years. I remember when my little brother was in secondary school. Absolutely unbearable."

James laughed. "I remember when _you_ were in secondary school, Sirius. You were much more unbearable than Regulus."

"You went to school together?" Remus asked, stomach burning with curiosity about Sirius now that he had the chance to learn more. He was half afraid that he would be sick from information overload; just learning his name had been enough to make his head spin.

"Boarding school," Sirius said. "A place called Hogwarts up north. I had to share a room with this idiot for seven years."

"You were _privileged_ enough to share a room with me for seven years," James corrected.

"It was pretty great," Sirius conceded. He turned back to Remus, who had been busy staring at Sirius and now jumped a little in his seat. He thought he saw the smallest of smirks touch Sirius's lips. "What subject would you teach?" he asked.

"Subject?" Remus asked, his face burning. "Oh! Um, I'm not sure yet. Maybe history? Or literature, maybe. Either of those."

"My worst subjects. Hear, hear!" Sirius raised his glass in Remus's direction, but he was grinning. "Pity James and Lily didn't meet up sooner, you could have tutored me."

Remus wasn't sure what to say so he laughed instead and fixated on his wine once more.

"So, Sirius, your girlfriend is a pretty lucky girl." Remus looked up in shock. Lily wasn't looking at him, instead fixing Sirius with an innocent smile. "All those flowers you get her every week. Remus told me you're a regular customer."

Remus decided that later tonight he would sneak back in here and chop off all of Lily's hair.

Sirius just blinked, confused. "Girlfriend? What—no! Oh, god, no!"

James erupted into laughter at the other end of the table, actually setting his wine down and pushing his chair back so he could double over. Sirius's eyes had widened, his mouth open in an expression of disgust.

"Oh, god!" he kept repeating. His horrified eyes found Remus's. "That's what you thought? But I thought I said! You thought I had a _girlfriend_?"

"Oh, my god, you're such an—an _idiot,_ Sirius!" James spluttered, still beside himself with some joke Lily and Remus weren't getting. Remus looked at Lily, who was frowning at him, and for a moment they were united in oblivious camaraderie despite Lily's betrayal.

"I have dinner with the Potters every Sunday," Sirius said. "I get the flowers for James's _mum_. It's kind of our tradition. The first time I ever met her I bought her this huge bouquet and she thought it was hilarious."

"Keep in mind, Sirius was twelve," James added, wiping his eyes. "Showed up on our doorstep with a bouquet bigger than his head, wearing a suit and stuttering pleasantries at my parents. Mum was charmed. Now he never shows up without them."

"I don't have a _girlfriend._ " Sirius was still looking at Remus, but instead of sharing in James's delight at the mistake he was wearing a serious expression Remus couldn't read. "You thought I've been buying flowers for my girlfriend all this time?"

"So you don't have a girlfriend?" Lily broke in.

Sirius snorted, although he didn't look amused. "No."

Lily narrowed her eyes. "Boyfriend?"

"I'm stuffed!" Remus said, pushing his chair back with a loud screech. He picked up his untouched plate. "I'm just going to go… clean up."

He bit his tongue as he left the room to James's continued chuckling, and only when he was in the safety of the kitchen did he mutter, "I am going to kill her," setting his dish in the empty sink.

"Please don't murder on my account."

Remus whirled around. Sirius was standing in the doorway, holding his empty plate. Remus was forced to meet his gaze head-on for the first time since Sirius had arrived. He swallowed.

"I'm sorry about her," he said. "She's a bit…"

"Oh, I know. I hear a breakdown of Lily Evan's finest qualities every night from James. I think I know everything about her by now."

Remus tried to smile. "I can take that," he said, holding out a hand for Sirius's dish.

Sirius laughed a little. "No, I've got it, but thanks."

"Right," Remus muttered as Sirius passed him. He cleared his throat. "We should go and see if Lily and James—"

"You thought I had a girlfriend?"

Remus looked back to find Sirius leaning against the counter with a frown, arms crossed. He was wearing his Led Zeppelin t-shirt again, a favorite of Remus's. It was bizarre to see him in Lily's kitchen, such a familiar place to Remus, when he had only ever been in the flower shop (and that one dream that Remus had refused to mention to anyone). The feeling of two worlds colliding gave the situation an ethereal feel.

"Uh, yes," he said.

Sirius sighed and shook his head. "That explains a lot."

Remus tugged on the hem of his sweater in discomfort, confused. "I'm sorry, what?"

"You know, why you never responded to any of my flirting?"

Remus's blood felt infused with ice. His mouth opened in disbelief as he stared at Sirius, whose frown had changed into a smirk as he watched the effect of his words. Remus knew that he should say something, because the silence was growing and becoming more and more awkward, but for the millionth time that evening he found himself unable to comprehend what the bloody hell was going on. Was this mess with Remus day?

"—and then Sirius stole his pants so he had to walk back from the lake _stark naked_ ," James said as he walked back in, Lily at his elbow rolling her eyes.

"Charming," she said. "Remus, do you want to do dessert right now? It's nearly nine already."

"Dessert." Remus was still staring at Sirius, whose smile was growing inch by inch the longer they kept eye contact. "Right. Oh, dessert!" He turned away, aware that he was probably bright red and unsure of what to do with his hands. He kept his face turned away from Lily in the hopes of getting through dessert as fast as possible so he could go home and try to sort through what was going on.

"Oh, what do we have?" James asked.

"Ice cream," Lily said, opening a cupboard and peering inside. "I thought we could each make little sundaes. Where do I keep the sprinkles again, Remus?"

"With the spices, for some strange reason," Remus said, squatting down to dig in the freezer for the cartons of ice cream he had bought this morning. He bent in close so the chill hit his cheeks, hoping it would even out his temperature.

"Hey, the containers look the same. Here they are, catch, James." She tossed the sprinkles to James, who caught them with deft hands. "Oh, hey, here are those self-restarting candles you got for Peter's birthday, Remus! I forgot about those!"

"Self-restarting candles?" Sirius asked.

"You know, you blow them out and they start up again? Remus mixed a few in with the regular candles on our friend Peter's birthday cake. He was blowing for five minutes before Remus took pity on him."

"You like to prank, then?" Remus chanced a look at Sirius, whose expression would have been better suited for Christmas morning.

"Not really," Remus muttered, setting the cartons on the counter. "It was just a bit of fun."

"Do you think they'll stick up in the ice cream?" Lily asked, examining the package.

"It's not much of a joke if we all know what they are, Lils," James pointed out.

"They're still cool, though. And maybe if they're expired we'll get a cool fireworks show."

"Haven't we had enough fire for tonight?" Remus asked, opening the vanilla carton.

Lily made a face at him and tossed the candles back in the cupboard. "Where's the chocolate sauce?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "In the fridge next to the ketchup," he said.

While he and Lily gathered the rest of the supplies, James and Sirius hovered, ready to lend a helping hand but not wanting to get in the way. Remus felt Sirius's eyes on him the whole time, but his thoughts were consumed with what Sirius had said earlier. _Why you never responded to any of my flirting_. Flirting? What was he talking about? He couldn't actually mean that he had been flirting with _Remus_ , could he? Remus was just getting over the idea of him not having a girlfriend, he couldn't handle something like this.

"Alright," Lily said, pointing the ice scream scoop at James. "Chocolate or vanilla?"

"Vanilla," James said. When Sirius scoffed he said, "Yes, yes, we all know your never-ending war on vanilla ice cream, Sirius."

"It's boring!" Sirius said, resting his elbows on the counter. "Remus agrees with me, right? We've talked about this."

"Well… if you get toppings—" Remus started.

"But that ruins the purity of the ice cream!"

"Please, Sirius, we all know that you're going to smother yours in sprinkles," James said, accepting his bowl of ice cream from Lily with a broad smile and a wink.

"Sprinkles aren't a topping. They're a way of life."

"Do you listen to yourself when you speak?" Lily asked, sounding genuinely curious. Remus laughed, schooling his expression when Sirius glared at him.

"Dish me up some chocolate, Lily," Sirius said. "And I want all of the sprinkles. All of them."

"Have it your way," Lily said, scooping out his ice cream and plopping it in a bowl. "They've been in my pantry for three years, any green ones might be moldy. Remus, I assume you want your usual? Chocolate on chocolate on chocolate?"

"Yes, please," Remus said, opening the chocolate syrup bottle as Lily scooped for him.

"See, I can support that," Sirius said, pointing his spoon at Remus. "You, James, are a heathen."

James spooned a huge chunk of vanilla and waved it in Sirius's face. "Oh, yum, look how white it is."

Sirius crossed his eyes as he opened the sprinkles with a loud _pop_.

"Thanks," Remus said as Lily handed him his bowl.

"Seconds are self-serve," Lily said, spooning both vanilla and chocolate into her bowl and setting the scooper down. "I'm done. Sirius, did you actually use all the sprinkles?"

Sirius looked up from his bowl, sheepish. "I can scrape some off the top?" he offered.

Lily rolled her eyes. "You're a mess."

"I'm glad to see our relationship has progressed to the 'insult each other because you love each other' stage."

"We're on the first half of that stage," Lily said, taking a bite of her ice cream and beaming at Sirius with the spoon still in her mouth.

Firsts and seconds were finished in less than five minutes, and then James was yawning and running his fingers through his hair, saying, "We should get out of Lily's hair, Sirius." And then Lily was shooing away their offers to help clean up and the four of them were standing by the open front door while Sirius pulled his leather jacket back on.

"Thanks for everything, Lils," James said, smiling down at her. "It was wonderful."

"It was," Lily said with a smile of her own.

"Thanks from me too, Lily," Sirius said, shaking out his hair. When he got no response he rolled his eyes at Remus. "I swear, every date of theirs I spy on ends the same way. They'll be staring at each other and forgetting there are other people around for the next two minutes."

"Oh," Remus said, uncertain of where to look.

Sirius hesitated, glancing at James and Lily, who were now giggling about something with their faces very close together. "Tonight was insane, wasn't it?" he asked, lowering his voice.

Remus wanted to laugh; he supposed that almost summarized it. "Yes," he said.

"I mean, all this time we were just one connection away. I guess it's fate."

Remus thought back to Lily's comment earlier and a million responses to this filled his mind. _It certainly is. Well, we shouldn't keep fate waiting—here's my number. I think fate is telling us that we should see each other again._

"I guess," he said, dropping his gaze and turning to James and Lily, who were just emerging from a kiss.

"Well, we'll get out of here," James said, releasing Lily and turning to the other two. "It was really nice to meet you, Remus. We should do this again sometime!"

"Yeah," Remus said. He knew his smile was only mediocre at best, but James was polite enough to pretend not to notice.

"Thanks again, Lily," James said, smiling one more time at her as he clapped Sirius on the shoulder.

"Yes," Sirius said. Perhaps it was because Remus was so creepily attuned to Sirius at this point, but he recognized the downcast lilt to his voice and frowned at him when the other man wasn't looking. He had been fine just a minute ago when he had been talking about fate; what had happened?

"Bye," Lily said, waving as she shut the door. Remus locked eyes with Sirius one last time before the door was shut between them.

Lily was in his face within seconds. "Tell me everything," she demanded.

"I liked James," Remus said.

"Oh my god, Remus, don't do this to me! Spill! You two were alone for at least five minutes while James and I were still eating. What happened? Did he say anything? Did you do anymore flirting?"

"I really don't want to talk about it."

"You did!" Lily followed Remus as he pushed past her and walked back towards the kitchen. "What did you say? What did he say?"

"Nothing, Lily, he said nothing. He asked where to put his plate. That was it, okay? You freaked him out with all your girlfriend talk."

He wasn't sure why he was so irritated all of a sudden. All Remus knew was that he wanted to be home in his pajamas, but he needed to wait at least ten minutes before leaving to make sure that James and Sirius were definitely out of the building.

"No, I didn't. It's Sirius."

"Oh, you're his best friend now, are you? Know everything about him?"

"What the hell is wrong, Remus?"

"Nothing," Remus said. He stopped walking and pressed his face into his hands. "Nothing. I don't know, it's been a long night. I'm tired."

"You can crash here if you want," Lily offered.

"No, it's fine. I want to go home."

"Hey." Remus felt a touch on his elbow and turned to see Lily looking at him with concern. "Are you alright?" she asked. "Really."

Remus sighed. "I'm fine," he said. "Really, it was just a long night. My brain's fried. I'm just going to help you clean up and then I'm going home. I promise I'll tell you everything tomorrow."

Lily examined him closely, brow knit. Then she said, "Go and get some sleep, Remus. I can clean up."

"What? But—"

"It's just a few dishes, nothing I haven't dealt with before. You look dead on your feet, and I can't say I blame you. Go on, before I change my mind."

Remus sagged with relief. He pressed a grateful kiss to Lily's cheek. "Thank you," he said. "I'll call you tomorrow."

"You'd better," Lily warned.

Remus smiled and turned away, his mind several flights down with the man who would just be exiting the building now.

XXXXX

"And then she invited me to dance! This was after I had bought her the drink, and we sat there talking for like, twenty minutes—"

"Yes, you said," Remus said, smiling into his phone and fixing a bunch of roses with his free hand.

"Alright, so we were dancing, and there were people everywhere, it was just the sort of club that you'd hate, Remus," Peter's voice babbled. "Elbows everywhere, drinks splashing all over the place, I've got at least three bruises and I'm not sure where they came from."

"It sounds dreadful," Remus said. "I'm sure you enjoyed it."

"It was great! I haven't been to a club in a long time. I got the most incredible hot wings—"

"The girl, Peter?"

"Oh, right! So we were dancing—"

Peter's voice was interrupted by the tinkling of bells as the door opened. Remus shifted one more tulip in its bouquet before turning to the door. He nearly dropped his phone when he saw Sirius standing there, his hair windswept and messy and his eyes fixed firmly on Remus.

"—and then she was dancing so close to me I could feel her stomach, Remus, so I sort of leaned in to talk to her because I wasn't sure what to do and I guess she thought I was making a move on her because she _kissed_ me—!"

"Oh," Remus said, blinking as he continued his stare off with Sirius, who looked amused.

"Yeah! And then we were making out, right there in the middle of the dance floor! Oh, did I tell you what she looked like? She had blonde hair that was really curly, kind of like ramen noodles? And—"

"Peter," Remus said, "could I call you back later?"

"But mate! I haven't even gotten to the best part! I got her number!"

"That's great, Pete." Remus tried to make an apologetic face at Sirius, wishing desperately that he could just hang up. "You should definitely call her. I'm sorry, but I'm kind of at work and a customer came in—"

"Oh, right, it's Tuesday! I almost forgot, I have the day off because my boss is in Hawaii for his sister's wedding, so he said we should all take the day to—"

"Peter," Remus said. "Please."

"Right! I'll call you back in a bit, Remus. Have fun at work!"

The phone clicked as Peter hung up. Remus slipped his phone into the pocket of his apron, his heart beating fast. "I'm sorry," he said, "my friend Peter went to a club last night and hooked up with this girl and he's really excited, this kind of thing doesn't normally happen to him—"

"Remus," Sirius interrupted with a laugh, "it's fine."

"Oh," Remus said. "Okay. Good. Great." There was a long pause in which neither of them said anything. Remus was aware of every second that ticked by. "Do you need flowers?" he blurted out. "Apology for Mrs. Potter? We just got in some lovely daffodils that would go well with her pink tablecloth."

"You remember that, huh?" Remus flushed. Sirius, hands in the pockets of his jacket, strolled toward him. "No, I'm not here for flowers."

"Oh," Remus squeaked.

"Look, we didn't really get the chance to talk last night," Sirius said, stopping a foot away from Remus. The remaining distance sparked like tangible energy, sending goosebumps up Remus's arms. "And I'm afraid I might have freaked you out with that flirting comment."

"What?" Remus laughed, trying to brush it off. He crossed his arms in an attempt to look more relaxed. "No, of course not. Freaked out? No, not at all. It was just…. Nope, I'm all good. If you wanted to take a look at the tulips—"

"Remus, I'm not here for flowers."

"Vases?" Remus asked weakly.

Sirius laughed, shaking his head. "You're adorable," he said. Then he blinked. "Shoot, I didn't mean to say that," he said. "Listen, Remus—I think I might have read the situation wrong. These past weeks… well, I might have been reading a bit too much into them. Last night it didn't seem like you really wanted to talk to me, which is totally cool, but—"

"Didn't want to talk to you?" Remus repeated, his stomach twisting.

"Yeah," Sirius said, "and if I made things at all uncomfortable for you, I'm sorry. You're just as much Lily's friend as I am James's, and if they're going to keep seeing each other—which, god forbid, looks almost certain—I want to make sure things are all clear between us. So… we're cool?"

Remus licked his lips. "Yeah," he said, "we're cool."

Sirius's smile faltered. "Right," he said. "I'll see you around, then."

He turned to leave, and Remus's mouth spoke before his brain could process words because all of his instincts were screaming at him to _not let that boy leave._

"What did you mean flirting with me?" Remus asked.

Sirius stopped and turned back around, frowning. "I've been flirting with you," he said. "Did you really not pick up on it?"

"No," Remus said. "I thought you had a girlfriend."

Sirius sighed. "Bit of a tactical error on my part," he said. "You don't have much of a chance with the guy you're crushing on if he thinks you're taken."

All of the air left Remus's lungs. "Crushing on?" he repeated, feeling like an echo.

Color flooded Sirius's cheeks, making him look even lovelier. He reached up to rub the back of his neck. "Yeah," he said. "Again, I don't want things to be weird between us just because I assumed. I'm really sorry."

"You assumed right," Remus said.

"What?"

Remus bit the inside of his cheek, pulling at the sleeve of his shirt. "You, uh, assumed right," he said.

"Oh," Sirius said. A change had come over his face. "So you're…"

"Yes."

"Oh."

"And I did want to talk to you." Remus looked at Sirius's black boots. "Last night, I mean. God, I wanted to talk to you. I tried, but… I was sort of having a mental break down. I didn't mean for you to think I didn't like you or anything, because it's sort of the, uh, opposite of that."

"Wait. Are you saying that you _like_ me?"

Remus winced. "It wasn't obvious?"

"No. I thought you were just really shy."

"No, that's, uh… that's just around you, actually."

"Oh." There was a pause while Remus cursed himself in every language he knew. "Wow, that is incredibly cute."

He looked up, startled. Sirius's eyes were bright and glittering with something Remus had never seen in them before.

"And the _sweater,_ " Sirius said, "man, when I saw you standing there with the sleeves pulled over your hands and that dorky apron on—"

"Oh my god." Remus buried his face in his hands, flushing. "I thought you might not have noticed."

Sirius laughed. "Oh, I most definitely noticed. Did you know I've been trying to guess your name for months? I was considering writing a letter to the manager about providing you with a name tag. It was torture for James and me."

Remus peeked at Sirius from between his fingers now. His stomach was doing funny things, but it wasn't just out of nerves. There was a new emotion twisting there—hope.

"I made a list," he said weakly.

Sirius let out a bark of laughter. "That's classic! What was the top one?"

"Zach," Remus said.

"Oh god, that's terrible! I could never pull off Zach," Sirius said. "I had you down for Elvendork."

" _Elvendork_?"

"What? It's unisex!"

"God, you're so… so…"

"So what?" Sirius took a step closer so the space between them was barely six inches. Remus's heart jumped into his throat.

"Cute," Remus muttered.

Sirius's lips twitched. "What'd you say? Couldn't hear you, Rem."

"I said you're cute, you stupid—" Remus was cut off when Sirius closed the last few inches between them and pressed his lips onto Remus's. The entire world seemed to stop moving, and even though it lasted only a few seconds it seemed like years to Remus. There were no fireworks or rushes of energy; on the contrary, Remus's nerves stilled, the panic in his stomach replaced by a calm safety and the overwhelming knowledge that _this was completely right._ When Sirius pulled away he felt more in control of himself than he had before.

Sirius's cheeks were pink as he pulled away and opened his eyes. There was a slack-jaw quality about him that made Remus wonder if he had experienced the same thing Remus had.

"Wow," he said, "I've been wanting to do that for—"

Remus shut him up by kissing him again. He had to tilt his head down because he realized now that he was slightly taller than Sirius, who responded by leaning his head back and bringing his arms to wrap around Remus's waist. Remus was engulfed by the smell of leather and petrol and the feeling of Sirius's lips on his, long hair brushing Remus's fingers when he cupped Sirius's cheek, and yes, everything about the moment was more right than he could have dreamed.

When they pulled apart again it was Remus who spoke first. "I've been wanting to do that for months."

Sirius laughed, a bubble of pure joy, and pulled Remus closer. Remus rested his chin on his leathery shoulder and let his eyes shut, his body aware of every point of contact between the two of them. He couldn't stop smiling.

"There is one downside to this," Sirius said. Remus's eyes opened and he pulled away, uncertain, but Sirius just chuckled and tugged him closer again. "I owe James twenty bucks."

"You bet against me?"

Sirius grinned, his eyes roving over Remus's face. "I won't do it again," he said, reaching up to tap Remus on the nose.

Classical music filled the air, but Sirius and Remus remained where they were, entwined together amidst the bouquets of roses and sunflowers and tulips. "That'll be Pete," Remus said. "He probably asked that girl out already."

"Now you have a story of your own to tell."

"Oh, I don't know," Remus said. "Do I actually want to date you?"

Sirius twisted his face up into a pout and Remus laughed, leaning in to press a kiss to his cheek but missing when Sirius turned his head to meet his lips instead. And then they were lost again, Sirius's hands coming up to tangle in Remus's hair, Remus gripping the back of Sirius's thick jacket.

He let the call go to voicemail. Peter could wait.

XXXXX

"Strawberry," Remus said.

"Too pink."

"Pistachio?" Lily offered.

Sirius shuddered. "Just wrong."

"I think I see the issue here." Remus shifted, half-wishing that Sirius hadn't decided Remus's lap was the perfect seat. "It's not that you don't like _vanilla,_ it's that you only like _chocolate_."

"Not true!" Sirius said.

"Oh yeah?" James was plucking at Lily's hair. "Name one other ice cream flavor you've gotten in the past six months."

"Well," Sirius said, leaning back into Remus's chest and tearing a blade of grass into tiny pieces, "I can't get anything too artificially flavored because that's just creepy, and nothing with chunks in it because I have standards."

"So… chocolate?" Lily, who was lying on her back, looked upside down at Sirius.

"It's the only safe flavor!"

"What a baby," James said.

"Remus," Sirius whined, twisting in Remus's lap to look up at him with puppy dog eyes.

"Baby," Remus said.

"You're a shitty boyfriend, you know that?"

"I'm not your boyfriend," Remus said, "I have been reduced to your lawn chair."

Sirius responded by settling himself again against Remus's chest. Remus rolled his eyes and rested his chin on the top of Sirius's head, glad for the support of the tree behind him.

"Why should I branch out into other flavors when chocolate provides the whole package?" Sirius asked, dragging Remus's arm in front of him and poking his finger through the holes of his sweater. Remus's lips twitched when he tickled his arm.

"I can't argue with you there," he said.

"But you're a bloody chocoholic, so your opinion doesn't count," Lily said.

"I am not!"

"No, okay, we need to have some sort of intervention," Sirius said. "Valentine's day? Never again. I got him an industrial sized box of imported Belgium chocolates, and you know what this little shit said to me? 'Is this the biggest size they had?' You have a _problem_ , Moony."

"I do not!"

"You finished Peter's birthday cake while we were all sleeping," James said.

"Oh, come on, I only had a few pieces."

"You ate it the night before his party," Lily said.

"It was a bad night!"

"Aw." Sirius twisted, sitting up on his knees and bending close so his nose was touching Remus's. Remus glared at him. "Was Moony sleep eating again?"

Remus smiled. He fluttered his eyelashes when Sirius grinned back. Then he lunged forward and knocked him flat on his back in the grass. Sirius yelped in a very un-manly way and struggled, but Remus just pressed his whole weight against him and didn't move.

"Get a room," James said.

"Says you!" Sirius shouted, twisting underneath Remus. "I caught you two making out _on my bed_!"

"Right," James said, "as you were."

Remus gasped when Sirius wiggled his hand out from under him and tickled his stomach. He rolled off of him immediately, hunched over in self-defense, and watched warily as Sirius sat back up again.

"Ha," Sirius said, smirking. "Wimp."

Lily snorted, reaching up to play with the collar of James's shirt. "Takes one to know one."

"Hey!" Remus and Sirius said together.

"It's too hot for this," Sirius said. "Could you sit down and stop attacking me, Moony?"

"You're so attackable, though," Remus said, but he took his spot against the tree once more and let Sirius flop down in his lap. He brought his hand up to run through Sirius's hair, smiling when his boyfriend shut his eyes and sighed with pleasure.

"Could you scratch my head?" Sirius asked.

"You're a freak of nature," Remus said.

"At least he doesn't ask me to do it anymore," said James.

"Would you all shut up? I'm trying to take a nap," snapped Lily.

James resumed playing with Lily's hair while Remus leaned his head back and shut his eyes, still coasting his fingers through Sirius's hair in a rhythmic pattern. His other hand found Sirius's and they entwined their fingers together. Every inch of Remus was heated through by the sun and the familiar weight of Sirius on his legs, and he took a moment to marvel at the perfection of the moment.

"Now, a chocolate and vanilla swirl," Sirius said, breaking the silence, "that I could do."

Lily groaned, and when Sirius squealed a moment later Remus knew that she had hit him. He smiled, squeezing Sirius's hand and relaxing underneath him.

 _Idiot,_ he thought to himself.


End file.
